Americans' Perceptions About Public Education MS Word - This report reviews and synthesizes the findings of major nationwide polls and surveys exploring Americans' attitudes, opinions and perceptions about public education over the past three decades relying primarily on the findings of two organizations: Phi Delta Kappa, which working with the Gallup Organization, has conducted an annual, nationwide public opinion survey on education issues since 1968; and Public Agenda, a nonprofit research organization that has conducted a series of in-depth national surveys over the past several years. (Suzanne Weiss, Education Commission of the States, March 1999)...

Citizen Mobilization and Community Institutions: The Public Education Network's Policy Initiatives - This report analyzes the results of a bold set of initiatives designed to stimulate and support public responsibility for public education in 14 locales around the country. Local education funds (LEFs) led these initiatives, which received support from the Annenberg Foundation through the LEFsí national organization, the Public Education Network. In each of the three initiatives, the LEFs were expected to lead a process of community engagement in one area of local education policy: equipping students to meet the standards set forth in accountability systems; improving teaching quality; or strengthening school-community ties. (Brenda J. Turnbull, Public Education Network, May 2006)...

New Relationships With Schools: Organizations That Build Community by Connecting With Schools - This is the second study by Collaborative Communications Group examining organizations that work to improve schools as part of broader efforts to improve communities In this study, the authors ask how the organizations define public, how they interact with the public and what impediments they encounter in approaching their work. The organizations described in this report act on behalf of the neighborhood, the community or a constituency group and help residents build the networks, understanding and power to identify and address problems with their schools. (Collaborative Communications Group, November 2004)...

2004 National Survey of Latinos: Politics and Civic Participation - The findings of this survey show that education is a greater concern for Latino voters than for the general population, and that survey respondents placed the issue above any other in their consideration of the 2004 presidential candidates. They also indicate that Latino registered voters have higher levels of education than Latinos in general, and are more likely to have been born in the United States. The chartpack/summary of findings will be of particular interest. (Pew Hispanic Center, Kaiser Family Foundation, July 2004)...

Learn. Vote. Act. The Public's Responsibility for Public Education - This national poll finds that voters place a higher priority on public education than they do on terrorism, security or healthcare issues. The poll also finds that Americans want funding for public education protected from budget cuts and want more public investment in education. (Public Education Network and Education Week, 2004)...

National Survey of Latinos: Education - This report is a survey of Latino attitudes toward education, public schools and a variety of education issues, including the No Child Left Behind Act. This national survey is released against the backdrop of major changes in the nation's K-12 system as states and school districts apply sweeping new federal requirements. The survey also includes comparison samples of whites and African Americans. (Kaiser Family Foundation, January 2004)...

Vital Voices: Building Constituencies for Public School Reform - This report identifies pivotal values, tasks and challenges of constituency building, as well as some of the many promising approaches and accomplishments of participants. The analysis is based primarily on participantsí experiences and insights; at the same time, it looks across individual statements to identify larger commonalities and differences that mark the work. In addition, the researchers draw on the growing body of literature on the topic to help place the work of these practitioners in a meaningful context.(Academy for Educational Development and Chapin Hall Center for Children, 2003)...

Organizing for School Reform: How Communities Are Finding Their Voice and Reclaiming Their Public Schools - This study, conducted by the Institute for Education and Social Policy, examines the work of 66 community groups that are organizing to improve public education in low-performing schools and districts. The report outlines seven key findings: (1) community organizing around school reform is growing; (2) schools are improving and better communities are built; (3) community organizing is shaped by the issues and members involved; (4) adult and youth organizing groups work separately, but intergenerational organizing is growing; (5) organizing groups are becoming more sophisticated; (6) groups are addressing access, legitimacy and accountability; and (7) organizing groups need support to scale up. (Kavitha Mediratta, Norm Fruchter and Anne C. Lewis, Institute for Education and Social Policy, Steinhardt School of Education and New York University, October 2002)...

The 34th Annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll Of the Public's Attitudes Toward the Public Schools - This latest 2002 Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup comes with K-12 education at the state and federal levels in flux. School improvement efforts that have been blossoming since the 1990s are threatened by financial realities. Public school educators find themselves pulled between the improvement demanded in the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Still, local schools continue to be regarded favorably, with 71% of public school parents giving the school their oldest child attends a grade of A or B. Also, Americans reject cuts in education spending. Seventy-eight percent would avoid such cuts by reducing spending in other areas, while 58% would go so far as to raise taxes to avoid cutting education spending. (Lowell C. Rose and Alec M. Gallup, Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup, August 2002)...

Teachers, Parents Find Smaller Schools Appealing, but See Other Education Reforms as More Pressing - This press release describes the results of the first phase of a larger study that will examine high school students, parents and teachers on a range of social and academic factors. It reports that most parents and teachers value small class size more than small school size to improve student achievement. Parents and teachers declared lack of diverse curriculum and student body to be the drawbacks of small schools. (L. Gottlieb and M. Darden, Public Agenda, September 26, 2001)...

Public Schools Get Highest Rating in 30 Years - According to this report, public school support has been on a steady rise since 1983. This analysis shows that for the first time in 30 years, the majority of the American public assigns an A or B grade to their local schools. (Alec Gallup, The Gallup Organization, August 23, 2001)...

The Publicís Attitudes Toward the Public Schools - The 2001 Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup survey finds that Americans give the public schools in their communities the highest ratings in the 30-year history of this annual poll. For the first time, a majority (51%) of the American public assigns an A or B grade to their local schools. In 2000, the comparable figure was 47%. (Lowell C. Rose and Alec M. Gallup, Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup, August 2001)...